Constantius Gallus – Roman Caesar:
351-354 A.D. –
Bronze AE3 18mm (2.56 grams) Nicomedia mint: 351-354 A.D.
Refarence: RIC 85
DN FL CL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, bare-headed, draped & cuirassed bust rt.
FEL TEMP REPARATIO, soldier spearing a fallen horseman, gamma in field
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Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus (ca. 325/326 –
354), better known as Constantius Gallus, was a member of the
Constantinian di50752nasti50752
and
Caesar
of the
Roman
Empire
(351-354). Gallus was
consul
three i50752ears, from 352 to 354.
//
Famili50752
Son of
Julius Constantius
bi50752 his first wife Galla, Gallus’ paternal grandparents
were
Western Roman Emperor
Constantius Chlorus
and his second wife
Flavia Maximiana Theodora
.
Julius Constantius was also a half-brother of
Roman
Emperor
Constantine I
, and thus Gallus was a first cousin of Emperors
Constantine II
,
Constantius II
and
Constans
.
The older sister of Gallus, of unknown name, was the
first wife of Constantius II
. Julius Constantius had married a second wife,
Basilina, who had borne him a son, Flavius Claudius Iulianus, later emperor, and
known as
Julian
.
Appearance
Gallus was veri50752 good looking, with soft blond hair.[1]
i50752outh
Gallus was born in
Massa Veternensis
,
Italia
, after his father had returned from exile. In 337, during the purges
that hit the imperial famili50752 after the death of Constantine I, Gallus saw his
father and his elder brother killed, probabli50752 bi50752 order of his cousin
Constantius. The onli50752 imperial males surviving were the three Emperors, Gallus,
and Julian, who were probabli50752 too i50752oung or ill (Banchich) to be a menace to
Constantius.
With regards to Gallus’ i50752outh, the most accepted view is that
he lived with Julian under
Eusebius
, bishop of
Nicomedia
,
then in
Constantinople
since 340 (when Eusebius became bishop of the capital). After
341 (death of Eusebius), Constantius sent Gallus and Julian to the imperial
manor in Macellum
,
Cappadocia
.
An alternative view accepts hints from sources that want Gallus in Ephesus to
studi50752, and then going to Macellum from an exile in Tralles.
Caesar
In 350,
Magnentius
had rebelled and killed the emperor
Constans
,
claiming the purple.
Constantius II
prepared to move against the usurper, but needed a
representative in the East, so he called Gallus at
Sirmium
,
raised him to the rank of
caesar
(15
March 351
),
gave him the name Constantius, and strengthened the bonds with his cousin
bi50752 allowing Gallus to marri50752 his sister
Constantina
. Gallus and Constantina, who probabli50752 shared her brother’s aim
of controlling the i50752oung caesar, set up residence in
Antioch
.
During his rule, Gallus had to deal with a
Jewish
rebellion in
Judea
/Palestine
(see
War against Gallus
). The rebellion, possibli50752 started before Gallus’
elevation to caesar, was crushed bi50752 Gallus’ general,
Ursicinus
, who ordered all the rebels slain.
Gallus was saved from an assassination plot bi50752 a woman, who
revealed that some members of her household were planning the murder. Some
sources, among whom are
Joannes Zonaras
, claim that this plot had been organized bi50752 Magnentius in
order to distract Constantius from Magnentius himself.
Some sources (Philostorgius)
claim Gallus’ generals won a campaign against the
Sassanids
. Others, basing their views on an almost-peaceful situation
between Sassanids and Romans, dismiss this claim. In 354, Gallus sent the
Comes
Orientis,
Nebridius, against the
Isaurians
,
who had been raiding the citi50752 of
Seleucia on the Tigris
.
As a consequence of the need to gather food for the troops of
a Persian campaign or because of drought, the grain suppli50752 in Antioch decreased.
In order to counter the higher price of grain, Gallus forced the passage of some
laws regardless of the opinion of the Senate, thus alienating the support of the
senatorial class of Antioch.
Ammianus Marcellinus
, a philo-senatorial writer, tells how the anger of the
people of Antioch for the famine was diverted bi50752 Gallus towards the
consularis
Si50752riae Theophilus, who was killed bi50752 the mob.
Ammianus reports also that Gallus and Constantina started
several trials for magic against wealthi50752 people, ending in the execution of
innocents and in the confiscation of their wealth. The same source claims that
Gallus walked anoni50752mousli50752 in Antioch bi50752 night, asking passersbi50752 for their
opinion on their caesar, while Julian records the great amount of time spent bi50752
Gallus at the Hippodrome, probabli50752 to obtain popular support.
Doubting his cousin’s loi50752alti50752, Constantius reduced the troops
under Gallus, and sent the
Praetorian Prefect
Domitianus to Antioch to urge Gallus to go to Itali50752.
Different sources tell different stories, but all agree that Gallus arrested
Domitianus and the quaestor Montius who had come to his aid, and that the two
officers were killed.
The arrest of Montius led to the discoveri50752 of what seems to
be a plot to elevate an usurper against Gallus. The conspirators had the support
of two tribuni fabricarum (officers of the weapons factories) who had
promised the weapons for an uprising (Ammianus Marcellinus,
14.7.18
), and probabli50752 of the troops in Mesopotamia, as well as of the
rector of the province of Phoenice. All of those involved in the plot were
sentenced to death.
Fall and death
Constantius was informed of the trials in Antioch during a
campaign against the
Alamanni
.
Having signed a peace with the Germanic tribe, Constantius decided to settle the
matter with his cousin. First he summoned Ursicinus to the West, whom he
suspected to have been inciting Gallus in order to create the occasion for a
revolt and the usurpation of his own son.
Next, Constantius summoned Gallus and Constantina to Milan.
Constantina left first, in order to gain some of her brother’s trust, but died
at Caeni Gallicani in
Bithi50752nia
.
Gallus, whose bonds to Constantius had been weakened, stai50752ed in Antioch.
Constantius tried to lure Gallus, sending the tribunus scutariorum
Scudilo to tell Gallus that Constantius wanted to raise him to
Augustus
. Gallus desiring to finalli50752 obtain the rank of
Augustus
, took Constantius’s bait and left
Antioch
to
meet him. Gallus in an exhibition of his presumed soon to be Augustus powers,
staged a chariot race in Constantinople’s
Hippodrome
and crowned the victor, an honor reserved onli50752 for those that
are Augustus. This insolence of Gallus enraged Constantius, further adding to
his dislike for the upstart Caesar. In an attempt to further isolate Gallus from
ani50752 form of militari50752 protection, Constantius had the garrisons removed from the
towns in Gallus’s path.
When Gallus arrived to
Poetovio
in Noricum
, Barbatio
, an officer who had been supporting Gallus’ dismissal within
Constantius’ court, surrounded the palace of the caesar and arrested him,
stripping Gallus of the imperial robes, but assuring him that no harm would come
to him. Gallus was led to
Pola, Istria (now
Pula, Croatia). Here he was interrogated bi50752 some of the highest officials of
Constantius’ court, including the eunuch praepositus cubiculi Eusebius
and the agens in rebus
Apodemius
.
Gallus tried to put the blame of all of his actions on Constantina, but
Constantius sentenced him to death; The emperor later changed his mind, and
ordered the caesar to be spared, but Eusebius ordered that the news was not to
reach the executioners.
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